Professional cyclist Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark is about to win the Tour of the Basque Country for the first time. The Tour de France winner once again successfully defended his lead in the overall standings. The day’s win went to Sergio Higuita from Colombia from the German team Bora-hansgrohe.
On Good Friday (April 7th, 2023) the 25-year-old sprinted to the finish after a hilly 165.9 km around Amorebieta ahead of Italy’s Andrea Bagioli (Soudal-Quick Step) and Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo).
Bora-hansgrohe was already able to celebrate on the second stage thanks to Higuita’s Dutch teammate Ide Schelling. “I’m very happy, it was a very difficult stage”said Higuita, stressing that he is approaching his “best level”: “We had to give it our all the whole day, and the final was difficult too. I grabbed the opportunity.”
Short, demanding final stage
Denmark’s Vingegaard heads into the final stage around Eibar with a 13 second lead over Mikel Landa. On the sixth section over 137.8 km, there are seven climbs on the program, including three mountains in the 1st category.
Vingegaard’s best result so far on the traditional tour was second place in 2021 behind his teammate Primoz Roglic.